Wahine sank in 38ft of water and it was originally hoped that she could be refloated. A storm in 1969 broke the ship into three pieces, however, and from then on the salvors focused on simply removing the wreck from the sea bed.

Derrick crane on Queen’s Wharf, Wellington, destined for salvage work on the Wahine wreck, 18 Aug 1968. This crane was to be set up on the hull of Wahine in order to remove cars from the wrecked ferry.Evening Post photo, Alexander Turnbull Library